Life on the Reserve
by RedFred13
Summary: Charlie Weasley has been through some hard times. Winny can tell. He left for a week and was different when he returned. But can she get her mentor to open up, with the help of his brothers? POST-WAR. T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: First story and I would love to hear what was thought of it. Please review! I will try to update quickly!**

"Hey! Charlie! Wait up!" I yelled as I chased after my redheaded friend. He glanced over his shoulder at me briefly, but kept walking. "Charlie Weasley! Wait up!" I yelled again. This time he stopped.

"Yeah, Rowyn?" he asked harshly. I blanched. He was usually upbeat and happy. Well, not so much now. About a year ago, he disappeared and hadn't been the same since he returned. I still wasn't used to this new "Charlie".

"Just wanted to ask what you thought I should do about that Welsh Green?" I asked hesitantly. I was relatively new to the reserve, having started six years before. In this neck of the woods, I was still viewed as the rookie.

Charlie sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before running a hand through his hair, making it more unruly than it already was. "Put the potion in a lamb's blood and goat meat mixture. That should restore her to full health in a few days," he said before turning and walking back to camp. I paused, worried about my former mentor.

No one could get out of him what had happened when he left last May. He wouldn't tell us for some reason. Whatever it was, he felt like he couldn't tell anyone on the Reserve. And that was what worried me most.

I sighed and walked towards the quarantine pens, where an elderly Welsh Green waited for me. "Hey girlie. You're looking gorgeous today," I murmured at her as I approached. Her white eyes searched futilely for me, her head swinging around to where my voice was coming from. I knew she wouldn't hurt me. She had been born as one of the first dragons on the Reserve and bottle-fed by the keepers there at the time. She was harmless, as long as you let her know you were there.

I slid the mixture to her and she sniffed it before turning away. "C'mon Gwen. It's your favorite!" I said, trying to coerce the dragon to eat. I sighed before hiking back towards camp.

I made quick work of returning and approached Charlie's tent. "Charlie?" I called out loudly.

"Hey, Winny? Is that you?" I heard another male voice call out and Charlie's brother poked his head out of the tent.

"Bill!" I yelled, running to give him a hug. I had met their entire family on a visit with Charlie to England several years ago. Since then, all but the youngest boy have visited the Reserve at least once. "How are you?" I asked. He paled slightly and shrugged. I knew something had happened.

"How are you?" he asked me. I glanced past him to the tent, where I could hear Charlie cussing slightly.

"Good, except having to put up with Mr. Mood-Swings there," I grumbled quietly. Though to be honest, I half-hoped Charlie had heard me.

"Go easy on him, Winny. Charlie's had a rough go of things lately," Bill muttered to me softly. I looked at him. Life hadn't exactly looked easy on him either. I had heard that Charlie's brother had been attacked by a werewolf, but it hadn't sunk in until I saw him like this.

He had lost weight off of his already skinny frame. His fang earring had been replaced with a piece of wood that looked like it may've been a piece of a wand at some point. His face was scarred and his blue eyes looked just as haunted as I had seen Charlie's.

"What happened to you guys?" I murmured, looking at the oldest Weasley brother. He shook his head.

"If he wanted to tell you, he would. It's not my business to say, Winny, you know that," Bill said back. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, Bill, you can tell them my answer's no," Charlie said as he exited the tent behind us. We both spun around.

"Charlie, come on. George needs us all to be there. For him," Bill pleaded. Charlie faltered. "Winny, you should come too," Bill said hesitantly. Charlie immediately started shaking his head.

"No. No way. I'll come, but she stays here. She doesn't belong in that mess, Bill. There's a reason I left her here the first time," Charlie argued. Bill didn't respond, but I could tell they were having a stand-off.

"Charlie, I'm coming. I would love to see your family again! Last time I saw Ron, he was twelve! I bet he's changed a lot since then! And Ginny too!" I argued. Charlie still shook his head.

"No. You have to stay and take care of Gwen. You know she only doesn't roast me and you," he said stubbornly. I knew I was more stubborn than he was, but I didn't want to argue.

"Fine. But you better tell them all hi and explain why I didn't come visit this time," I said. He nodded and with a loud pop, the brothers were gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Anybody, any place, and anything that sounds familiar probably are. The Harry Potter world is all JK Rowling's.**

**A/N: I apologize for taking so long to post again. Between two long trips and a death of a pet, it's been a long summer already.**

**Two Weeks Later**

"Hey, miss me?" I heard a familiar voice say and I whirled around. Standing there was Charlie, his broad shoulders looking more relaxed than I had seen him in close to four years.

"Damn right I did!" I said, grinning at him. "I would've already given you a hug, but I'm up to my elbows in lamb at the moment," I said, shrugging my shoulders slightly. Charlie's eyebrows met as he frowned at me.

"Is Gwen not eating now?" he asked. I shook my head. "I'll try to come up with something to entice her."

"So," I started. Charlie glanced over at me as he rolled his sleeves up. "How was the family?"

"Not as good as they've been, but better than they were," he said, focusing on the meat we were preparing. "They'll survive though," he said, never taking his eyes off the job. We worked in comfortable silence for a while before I broke it again.

"How old is Ginny and them now?" I asked curiously. It seemed like ages since I had last seen them.

"Well, Ginny is seventeen, Ron's eighteen, George is twenty, and Percy is twenty-two," he said. I did the math.

"Weren't there seven of you?" I asked, still curious.

"I'm going to go check on the eggs Michael found last month," Charlie said as he walked away, completely ignoring my question. I could see his jaw clenching from where I continued to work.

I did a quick review of the names he'd said. Ginny, the only girl. Ron, the one who was best friends with Harry Potter. Percy, the up-tight one. Of course, Charlie and Bill. That left the twins: Fred and George. I couldn't remember much about them, except that they came here once, yelling and disturbing the semi-peacefulness of the reserve. I remember they fought with Charlie on something before apparating away. Fred was the one that Charlie had left out.

"Excuse me, miss?" I heard behind me. It was a voice that soundly vaguely familiar, so I turned and splattered the tall, gangly redhead with lamb blood.

"I am so, so sorry!" I said, trying hard not to laugh, afraid of insulting the teenager. His friend had no such qualms.

"It's fine, it really is. Wait, Winny?" the boy asked. I froze. Tall, gangly, redhead, so that probably, combined with the fact that he was on the reserve, made him Charlie's brother. Now which one?

"Yes?" I said slowly. I looked at the friend. He was tall and dark headed. Even if I didn't get many newspapers, I recognized him as Harry Potter. So that meant that this particular brother was Ron. "Wow. Ron, you've grown up since I've last seen you!" I said. He grinned at me.

"I would hope so! I wouldn't want to be a midget forever!" he said. Harry cleared his throat, making Ron jump. "Sorry, Winny, I would love to stay and talk, but I need to find Charlie. You seen him?" he asked. I pointed to the where the nest was hidden in a bunch of reeds. "Thanks."

"No problem. And sorry about the blood," I said loudly as he walked away. Harry started chuckling again.

"It could be worse Ron. It could be spiders," he said as they disappeared from view. I giggled, remembering the stories of Ron's arachnophobia.

"Oh, shut up Harry!" I heard the redhead say.

About twenty minutes later, I heard two pops that let me know somebody had disapparated. As I glanced at the reeds, Charlie came storming out.

"Bloody, good for nothing, nosy brothers. Let them save the world once and they think they can do anything they want. Overstepping boundaries, thinking they know better than me," he grumbled as he stomped past me and into his tent.

"Gwen, girlie, I think we have a problem," I said as I turned the bucket into the steel trough where we fed the dragon. I set the bucket down and walked slowly and quietly to the mouth of Charlie's tent.

"Charlie?" I said quietly, trying to figure out what was wrong. As I peeked in, I realized I was at wandpoint.

"Shit, Winny. I almost hexed you," Charlie said, lowering his wand. I nodded, not understanding what was going on. I moved to the foot of his bed and sat down. We sat in silence for a long while. I had questions.

Why did he change so much? Where did he go? What was it that made him always seem so upset?

"Charlie, wanna explain something?" I asked finally. He inclined his head as an answer, never taking his eyes off of me.

"Why are you always so…paranoid?" I asked. He grinned slightly. It wasn't like he was happy, more like reminiscent.

"A wise, old man once told me, 'Constant vigilance.' I've just decided recently that it was for the best to follow his advice."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Anybody, any place, and anything that sounds familiar probably are. The Harry Potter world is all JK Rowling's.**

"A wise, old man, huh? Was it Mad-Eye?" I asked curiously. Charlie looked at me for a second before nodding.

"Yeah, actually. How did you know Mad-Eye?" he asked. I chuckled.

"My dad knew several people in England when I was growing up. Mad-Eye was one of the few that came overseas to meet him," I said, laughing at the memory of my brother attempting to sneak up on ex-auror. "I don't know what happened to him though. Dad tried to floo-call him last year and didn't get an answer." I suddenly became aware of Charlie giving me an astonished look.

"Did you Americans not read newspapers or anything?" he asked, still looking stunned.

"Yes! We do actually! And we have TV's too!" I said, slightly insulted for the sake of my home country. "Just not much is said about England in the news. The most we heard was on your problems with ministers, but even that was strangely scarce." Charlie laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, I'd say problem with ministers!" I looked at him quizzically, but he waved me off. "Want something to drink?" he asked and I nodded. "Scotch, rum, butterbeer?"

"You have Guinness?" I asked. He nodded and brought me a bottle.

"You know of Voldemort, correct?"

"Yeah. In the nineteen seventies, he was a terror, even in the states. Then in eighty-one, Potter brought him down," I said, taking a sip of my beer. Charlie nodded.

"Well, he came back again. Harry's first year, he was sustained by living on unicorn blood, or so I'm told. The second year, his memory was in a diary. His soul possessed my baby sister and she was forced to let the basilisk out," he said in one breath. My jaw gaped. How did we miss all of that?

"And that was it, right? Voldemort was destroyed, vanished, never to be heard from again?" I asked, hoping I was right. Charlie laughed humorlessly.

"Not quite. Third year, Sirius Black?" he said. I straightened. I had heard of him on my news station in the States, so I wasn't expecting what Charlie had to say next. "Innocent the entire time. Long story there though. Fourth year, Voldemort's back, his servant with him. It just gets worse from there."

"So these worse years…they're what made you clam up? I mean, you've never been a real talkative guy, Charlie, but you're quieter than normal," I said. I watched as Charlie's eyes dimmed slightly. "Who was she?" I asked, lowering my voice slightly. Charlie looked up at me, and I wasn't sure if I really wanted to know.

"A friend. A good one at that," he said, before taking another swig of his firewhiskey. "She was in my year at Hogwarts, but in Hufflepuff," he said before clamming up.

"Oh? Was she pretty?" I asked, starting to get genuinely curious about this girl. Charlie chuckled.

"Tonks could look like whatever she wanted to look like. She was a metamorphmagus, see? She constantly changed her appearance. In fact, it got us both in and out of trouble."

"Really? A metamorphmagus? That's awesome!" I said, grinning. There weren't many of the in the world, and to know one was extremely rare.

"Yeah, it was really cool. Luckily, it was one of the things she passed on to her son. But I'll never forget when I first met her…." Charlie launched into the story without hesitating, now lost in memories.

* * *

"'Wotcher!" she said as she walked through the door to my compartment. I nodded politely. She was a girl, and I was more interested in my chocolate frogs.

"Oh, who's that? Circe? That's a really pretty color she has on," the girl said. I looked down at my card before glancing back up at her.

"Your hair!" I couldn't help but yell before covering my mouth. Where before it was a light brown, it now matched the color of Circe's dress: bubblegum pink.

"Oh sorry! Haven't quite gotten the hang of this completely. Whenever I get excited, it changes. It's the bane of Mum's existence in public," the girl said quickly. She wrinkled her nose, focusing as the hair slowly turned brown again.

"My name's Charlie Weasley," I said as I stuck my hand out. She shook it and grinned.

"Pleased to meet ya, I'm Ny—actually, just call me Tonks." We continued talking right up until they called her name for the Sorting.

"Nymphadora Tonks." My new friend tripped on her way to the stool, her hair turning flame red as she scrambled to where the hat waited.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" was yelled and she placed the hat back on the stool before running to where her new housemates were cheering. I caught her eye.

"Don't you DARE call me Nymphadora," she mouthed and I couldn't help but laugh."

* * *

Charlie suddenly cut off in midst of the story.

"So? Go on! I wanna hear about your years at Hogwarts!" I urged. He grinned slightly.

"That's enough for now. We need to go check on Gwen."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Everything that sounds familiar? They belong to the genius JK Rowling. Not me. Unfortunately. But Winny? I can claim her. :)**

** A/N: In case you haven't noticed, I am not British. I am an American who even has a terrible fake British accent. Anything that you think I can improve on, or you can help me with, it is much appreciated! (Sorry it was kind of short this update. I'll have the next one soon.)**

"She's really not looking any better, is she?" I could tell it was more of a statement than a question. It was true. But it was also true that she didn't look any worse either. "Gwen, you have to eat," he said quietly as he stroked her forehead. She shook herself and turned away. Charlie sighed before heading back to his tent.

"So?" I asked curiously. Charlie looked at me questionably.

"So what?"

"How were the rest of your years at Hogwarts?" I said, bouncing around behind him. I saw the rock just a second before I tripped over it. Quick as a flash, Charlie reached out to catch me.

I could feel my cheeks heating up with a blush and I let my dark brown hair create a curtain around my face to hide it the best I could. I chanced a glance up at Charlie to see a look of amusement, shock, and grief cross his face before he smoothed it back to normal. What was that about?

"They were good. Tonks was my best friend and when I needed back-up, I had her and Bill both. I remember several times when we snuck out. Tonks morphed herself once into Filch, telling Flitwick that she was escorting us to McGonagall's office. We got away with it that time. It was great!" he said, that old glint reappearing in his eyes as he reminisced on his glory days. I could tell that he had forgotten I was even there.

"Oh man, we got into so much trouble together. And, as odd as it was, she was the only girl I was ever interested in," he said, suddenly locking eyes with me. I stared into his blue eyes and my stomach flipped.

"You know that moment when you're hanging out with a friend, and suddenly, you look up, and see a completely different person standing there? I don't know what it was, but among our shenanigans, and Tonks' klutziness, and all the laughs, I realized I had fallen in love with her," he said, before glancing down at his shoes. I realized I knew exactly what he was talking about. I wanted to be the one who put that glint in his eyes, the one he laughed with.

Why these feelings? Why now?

"Charlie?" I heard someone say tentatively and a girl stuck her head in through the flap of the tent.

"Merlin's beard. What now, Ginny?" he asked and I felt my jaw drop slightly. This was Ginny? Granted, it had been six years since I'd seen her, but it was weird. She had grown up.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't realize you had company," she said, backing out. I grinned.

"It's fine, Ginny. Good to see you again," I said, standing up. She smiled brightly.

"Winny! It's great to see you!" she said. I knew that she was hoping I'd date her brother. She had said so the last time I visited the Burrow, and her eyes said she still wanted me to.

"I was wondering if you were going to come home to help reopen WWW?" she asked. Charlie sighed.

"Yeah, I guess," he said and I grinned.

"Can I come too?" He rolled his eyes and sighed again.

"I guess. Maybe you can quit asking so many questions then?" he suggested and I shook my head. Ginny clapped excitedly.

"Alright, then, let's go, Charlie. Mum's fixing your favorites tonight, to try to entice you back," Ginny said with a sly smile. I smiled back as Charlie headed towards the shredded wheels we had been using the last couple of months as portkeys. I jogged to catch up to him. Ginny grinned and apparated back ahead of us.

"Okay, a couple of rules," he started tersely. "One, don't mention the war. You're pretty ignorant about it, and it'll only lead to people getting upset. Two, be careful around George. He's going to be a mess. Three, don't make a big deal about coming with me. Mum will blow it all out of proportion and assume we're dating," he said. I nodded to show I understood.

"And Winny…" he said before he stopped to stare at me. I looked up into his eyes. "Please be careful there. They have yet to round-up all the Death Eaters," he said, bending down to gently kiss my cheek. He grabbed one of the tires and left. I stood there, my hand resting where I could still feel his lips. I was so shocked that I almost missed my portkey. I grabbed the piece of rubber just as it left the reserve.

**A/N 2: If you read this, please review. I would love to hear anybody's thoughts, critiques, ideas, etc. Thanks! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I'm working on my own novel, but unfortunately, this isn't it. Everything familiar belongs to Rowling.**

I landed in a shabby yard, the grass worn down from numerous pairs of feet trampling across it and it took me a minute to gain my balance and composure. I wasn't used to travelling by portkey.

I stood in the shade of a tree for a minute, taking in the house all over again. It had changed a lot since I had been here last. The yard looked slightly more disheveled and the house leaned a little more than before, like it had taken some hard abuse. But from where I stood, I could hear laughter from the kitchen, then some yelling.

"Ronald! Give it back!" I heard and I saw a bushy haired girl chasing Ron into the yard. He laughed and tossed the book to me.

"Run Winny! RUN!" he shouted as he ran the other way. The girl froze, looking between me and him.

"I am not going to Ron," I said, shaking my head. I walked forward and gave the girl back her book. "Hi, I'm Winny, as the git pointed out," I said, sticking out my hand. I knew who the girl was from stories I had read in the paper and from ones I've heard from Charlie.

"I'm Hermione. Nice to meet you. And thank-you for giving me back my book," she said, shooting a dirty look at Ron, who simply laughed.

"Ron, Hermione. Get back in here! It's time for supper!" I heard Molly Weasley scold from the kitchen. I followed them inside and was enveloped in a hug from the short woman.

"Mrs. Weasley, it's good to see you again," I said. I couldn't help but smile brightly. No matter what, I always felt at home with the Weasley family.

"Please, call me Molly, dear. I'm so glad you agreed to come home with Charlie," she said and I bit my tongue while shooting her son a glare. If it was up to me, I would've been here sooner. She let me go, and her curly-headed son stepped up.

"So pleasant to see you again, Ms. Stuart," Percy said as he shook my hand. I snorted.

"Percy, you've known me since I've been working with Charlie. Call me Winny, or if you insist on being more formal, Rowyn," I said, grinning. He cast me a small, placating smile as he nodded. He was pushed aside by George, who smiled weakly.

"Hey, Whiny," he said, and I laughed. I had forgotten that the twins had given me a nickname last time I was at the Burrow. He stretched out his arms and I walked into them.

"I wish Fred was here to see you again," he murmured. I sighed softly.

"George, I am so, so sorry," I started before he let go and stepped away. He walked out of the kitchen and I looked around. It was now empty except for Charlie and me.

"Charlie, what the hell happened before you left?" I asked, trying to figure out what the peck on the cheek meant to him. He looked at me and a look of conflict flickered across his face before he shrugged.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said and I growled under my breath. "Come on, I'll point out the rest of the family to you," he said, pushing my back out into the yard, where tables were set up. The main one next to the house was sagging with the amount of food that Molly had cooked for us all. My mouth was watering already.

"That's Harry," Charlie said, pointing to the dark haired boy laughing as he listened to Hermione and Ron argue. "Hermione said she met you earlier. So I guess the only ones you don't know here are Fleur Delacour, who competed against Harry in the Triwizard and is now married to Bill; Andromeda Tonks, who was Tonks' mum; and Tonks' son, Teddy," he said, pointing the last two out.

I followed his finger to where a tall, regal looking woman sat with a little boy clinging to her legs. Her hair was long and light brown, although it had streaks of silver running heavily through it. The little boy, however, had turquoise blue hair that, as he cooed towards Harry, changed to Weasley red before turning black and messy, like that of Harry's.

"Harry's his godfather. He plays shy when he first meets you, but that ends quickly. As you could probably tell, he's a metamorphmagus and he adores Harry already," Charlie said, and I looked up to see a grin on his face.

"That's Tonks' son? He's adorable," I said softly. He nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, he is. He's a mess too though," he said. I grinned and headed over to introduce myself to the two.

"Hi," I said, sitting down beside Mrs. Tonks.

"Hello," she said, sounding slightly surprised. "Forgive me, but I don't believe we've met."

"We haven't! Sorry! I'm Rowyn Stuart, Charlie's friend. Most people just call me Winny though," I said, sticking my hand out. She shook it.

"Well, I'm Andromeda Tonks. And this is my grandson, Teddy Lupin. Say hi, Teddy," she instructed. He looked at me before burrowing his face into her calves.

"Hi Teddy… I've heard about you. That you were Harry's godson and very handsome," I said as I crouched down beside him. He peeked out and grinned at me.

"'Arry," he said, pointing up. I glanced up to see Harry standing above me, a broad grin on his face.

"Hey Winny," he said and I waved at him. "Andromeda, can I steal Teddy?" he asked. Teddy was already reaching for his godfather, and Andromeda nodded. I excused myself and headed back to Charlie.


End file.
